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Solids and weaning giant baby

My son will be turning 1 at the end of the month and I'm thinking of weaning him between now and 18 months - I'm still breastfeeding him four time a day right now, but would like to drop all feeds except his bedtime feed. I should also say he is a huge baby at 27lbs (100 percentile of for height and weight), and I've been supplementing him with formula since he was about 8 months - of which he's getting about 30oz a day.

My problem is he doesn't seem very interested in solids, I am trying to be very patient by offering him a variety of foods everyday and letting him decide what he will eat and what he doesn't want to eat. Needless to say, he doesn't want to eat much besides fruits, crackers and bagels, although guacamole was a huge win for us lately. He's allergic to dairy, so he can't have cheese or yogurt (or all the yummy stuff I gave up to continue breastfeeding him) and he won't even touch the soy yogurt. If I offer him what we are eating he just squishes it and throws it on the floor (not into mixed foods at all). He'll eat a pear if I offer it to him AS-IS, but if I peal and slice it he'll automatically reject it.

So my question is: should I be reducing the amount of formula I'm offering him so he'll have a bigger appetite for solids? When I googled "how much milk for 1 year old" most say two or three cups a day, but my son is so big that I'm worried that wouldn't sustain him. We just got him to sleep through the night (yay!) and we don't want him to start waking from hunger again . . .

Re: Solids and weaning giant baby

I think that at this point, you want to start reducing the amount of formula your LO is getting, and keep the number of nursing sessions constant. Wean from formula first- it's expensive and it's not as good for your baby as breastmilk is, and since the amount of formula he's getting is fairly large, it's probably reducing his appetite for solids. (My understanding is that 32 oz of formula per day is kind of the max amount for an exclusively formula-fed baby, so 30 oz per day plus 4 nursing sessions a day implies to me that your LO is getting plenty to eat.)

That all being said, many babies are not all that interested in solid foods until well after their first birthday. Your baby's solid food diet sounds pretty typical for a not-quite-1-year-old. Just keep offering a variety of healthy solids and eventually he'll start putting them into his mouth.

Is there any particular reason why you want to wean down to just 1 feeding per day? I personally am a huge fan of toddler nursing- I nursed my first until age 3 and plan to go at least that long with my second- and while I know it's not something that works for everyone, I also think that a lot of moms wean around age 1 out of frustration or because they're getting pressured by friends/family/society. And then they can miss out on a lot of the benefits- and the fun!- of nursing an older toddler. I'll be happy to talk up toddler nursing if you're interested. Which I encourage you to be- if your LO is allergic to dairy products, your milk can really be an important source of nutrition for him, since you're not going to be able to offer him a sippy of cow's milk. It's a lot easier to fill baby's fat/calcium needs by nursing than it is to get those needs met with solids- considering how picky toddlers are!

Re: Solids and weaning giant baby

I think you misunderstood me, I would like to wean from breastfeeding, not formula. I am well aware of the benefits of long-term breastfeeding and I think 18 months is pretty darn good. Also, I am in my mid-30s and would like to get pregnant again and see breastfeeding as hindering my efforts.

Re: Solids and weaning giant baby

My baby is almost 13 months old and some days she eats a lot of solids and some days she doesn't.

I think mommal was saying to drop down on the formula so he would be hungry for more solids. If you keep giving him 30 ounces of formula a day, regardless of whether you are nursing or not, he will still probably not be very hungry for solids.

Re: Solids and weaning giant baby

In that case, I'd start weaning from formula now, before you get to the 1 year mark, and see if it makes a difference in your baby's intake of solids. Keeping the 4 nursing sessions you have now maximizes breastmilk intake until the year mark- good for baby, and good for you, right? After a year, then you start weaning from the breast in concert with reducing the amount of formula.

WRT to fertility, has your cycle returned yet? Once a mom has a monthly cycle, breastfeeding is very unlikely to have a negative impact on her chances of becoming pregnant or sustaining a pregnancy. If your cycle isn't back yet, weaning may encourage it to return.

Re: Solids and weaning giant baby

He's on a HUGE amount of formula hon. A baby on solids and almost 1 year old doesn't need that much formula even if he were getting no breastmilk. His appetite for solids would increase if you decreased the formula.

Mama to five beautiful kids- 9, 8, 3, 2 and currently nursing our new baby girl born 1/20/2013

"It should not be necessary to tell reasonably intelligent mammals to suckle and not dismember their neonates." ~Susan Blustein

Re: Solids and weaning giant baby

Our pediatrician told me that babies should get 20-24 ounces of milk a day at a year. My pediatrician's recommendations seem to be at the upper limit; I've also seen 16-20 ounces (and even less than that on occasion) stated elsewhere. 30 ounces is a lot. If I were in your shoes, I'd definitely cut down on the formula, because it probably is interfering with your son's interest in solids. Less than 30 ounces may not totally satisfy him, but he should not be filling up on formula alone after a year and he may need to get a little hungry in order to make room for some solid food.

Although there are benefits to extended breastfeeding, I don't think there are any proven benefits to extended formula feeding, so you can feel free to switch to a soy, rice, almond, or other alternative milk after a year. I don't think you are nursing enough for that to effect solids much, but you can replace some of the nursing with an alternative milk as well since you are looking to wean. It may also help to offer solids before you offer formula or milk.

It can take a while for babies to gain interest in solids. Mine was interested in food, but not actually consuming very much at a year. Now at 14 months he is still pretty hit or miss with solids. However he eats very well at some of our meals and he's gradually getting more consistent, so based on my experience I would recommend lots of patience. Mine will not eat any significant amount of food unless he is eating what the rest of us are eating, and it helps when I take bites of the food on his tray.

Your fertility may return on it's own without weaning now that your son is sleeping through the night.